Lesspain Software have recently introduced a new software called KYNO that allows clip viewing, selection, labelling and marking, as well as transcoding to various formats. It is an easy to use interface, that has a lot of power under the hood. Here are some of the key features.
Media Overview and Labelling
KYNO is a platform that gives you an overview of all your footage. You can either view material that is stored on your hard drive, or directly from an SD card or similar format (RAW files, such as R3D, ArriRaw, Black Magic Raw are not supported at this stage). Through the interface, you are able to batch rename files, label, tag and rate them, and sort them by adding metadata descriptions.
When searching for footage, you can filter via metadata such as frame rate or date. If you tagged or labelled your shots, you can search for them via the tag keyword – for example “timelapse”.
KYNO also allows you to view your content in the correct frame rate. Slow motion shots can be conformed for previewing at a normal frame rate. You can also add widescreen masks, to see whether the framing of your shot is correct.
Shot selections, or sub-clips, can be easily imported into editing platforms, such as Final Cut X or Premiere Pro.
Markers
Create Excel Edit Feedback Lists with thumbnails
KYNO also has marker features which work with editing platforms, DVD Menus, or to create an EDL, exported as an Excel spreadsheet that displays a thumbnail of the shot, with timecode and description for edit changes. This is a cool feature that is great for when the director isn’t able to sit behind the editor.
Creating Dailies / Transcoding
KYNO has a wide variety of formats it can transcode to, covering all the bases from ProRes to DNxHD to H264. A nice feature that I came across is the ability to create markers on shots, which you can use to export stills. You can even select a whole folder full of footage, and batch export the frames you marked.
Conclusion and Pricing
KYNO is a great platform to view content, catalogue in a comprehensive manner and export basic dailies, but I would like to see this software evolve a bit more. Currently, it doesn’t support RAW files, so it is not ideal for dailies on a professional filmset. There are other features missing such as burned in overlays for timecode, copyright labelling or clip name. These are the fundamental features that are needed in a media management software. It does, however, have the cool feature of creating markers that can be exported as an Edit List, which is great for productions where the director isn’t present in the edit. KYNO is still in BETA stage, so there is lots of room to grow, and we will be keeping an eye on it.
You will be able to use Kyno Beta for 3 months free of charge, and is available for download here. Kyno will be available for purchase in August 2016 for a retail price of $159. For more information please visit KYNO’s website. For more information please visit KYNO’s website.